Swinburne University of Technology
Swinburne University of Technology
1999 Annual Report
Table of Contents
Compliance Index 2
Report of Operations 4
Vice-Chancellor’s Overview 5
General Information 9
1 Establishment 9
2 Objectives, Functions, Powers and Duties of the University 10
3 Nature and Range of Services Provided 12
4 Administrative Structure 14
5 Workforce Data 16
6 Freedom of Information 16
Relevant Financial and Other Information 18
7 Summary of Financial Results 18
8 Summary of Significant Changes in Financial Position during 1999 18
9 Operational Objectives for 1999 and Performance against Objectives 19
10 Summary of Major Changes or Factors Affecting Achievement of Operational Objectives in 1999 34
11 Events Subsequent to Balance Date Which May Have a Subsequent Effect on Operations in Subsequent Years 34
12 Consultancies in Excess of $100,000 34
13 Consultancies Less than $100,000 34
14 Statement of Compliance with the building and maintenance provisions of the Building Act 1993 35
15 Information Available Upon Request 36
16 Statement on Compliance Index 36
17 Compliance with National Competition Policy 36
18 Compliance with Public Sector Management and Employment Act (1998) 36
19 Statement on Year 2000 Compliance 37
Additional Information 38
20 Statement on Compulsory Non-Academic Fees, Subscriptions and Charges 38
21 Relevant Financial and Other Information Relating to Significant Initiatives Taken/Strategies Developed for the University’s International Operations 38
Compliance Index
This Annual Report has been prepared in accordance with Part 7 of the Financial Management Act 1994 outlined under Part 9 of the Directions from the Minister of Finance. This index has been prepared to facilitate identification of compliance with statutory disclosure requirements and lists the pages in the Annual Report on which each item may be found.
Clause / Disclosure / Page NumberReport of Operations / 4
Charter and Purpose
9.1.3 (i)(a) / Manner of establishment and relevant Minister / 9
9.1.3 (i)(b) / Objectives, Functions, Powers and Duties / 10
9.1.3 (i) (c) / Services provided and persons or sections of community served / 12
Management and Structure
9.1.3(I)(d)(i) / Names of members of the Council and Director / 14
9.1.3(I)(d)(ii) / Names of senior office holders and brief description of responsibilities of each office / 15
9.1.3(I)(d)(iii) / Organisational Structure / 15
Financial and Other Information
9.1.3(I)(e) / Workforce data and application of merit and equity principles / 16
9.1.3(I)(f) / Application and Operation of the Freedom of Information Action 1982 / 16
9.1.3(ii)(a) / Summary of financial results with previous four years comparatives / 18
9.1.3(ii)(b) / Summary of significant changes in financial position / 18
9.1.3(iii)(c) / Operational and budgetary objectives for the year and performance against those objectives / 19
9.1.3(ii)(d) / Major changes or factors affecting achievement of objectives / 33
9.1.3(ii)(e) / Events subsequent to balance date / 33
9.1.3(ii)(f) / Consultancies in excess of $100,000 / 33
9.1.3(ii)(g) / Consultancies less than $100,000 / 33
9.1.3(ii)(h) / Compliances with the Building Act 1993 / 34
9.1.3(ii)(I) / Information on Request / 35
9.1.3(ii)(j) / Compliance Index / 35
9.1.3(ii)(k) / Statement on National Competition Policy / 35
Other Statutory Reports
FOI Act 1982 s7 / Freedom of Information Report / 16
TE Act 1993 12I / Report under the Tertiary Education Act 1993 / 37
PAEC (December 1997) / Relevant information relating to significant initiatives taken/strategies developed for international operations / 37
Other Reports
Public Sector Management and Employment Act / 35
Year 2000 Compliance / Statement on progress towards Year 2000 compliance / 36
Financial Statements
Statement of Financial Operations
9.2.3(ii)(a) / Operating revenue by class / 1
9.2.3(ii)(b) / Total investment income (not by class) / 1
9.2.3(ii)(c) / Profits arising from sale of non current assets:
- proceeds
- written down value (included in depreciation) / 3
14
9.2.3(ii)(d) / Financing cost / 13
9.2.3(ii)(e) / Depreciation, amortisation or diminution in value / 13
9.2.3(ii)(f) / Bad and doubtful debts / 13
9.2.3(ii)(g) / Losses arising from sale of non current assets:
- proceeds
- written down value (included in depreciation) / 3
14
9.2.3(ii)(h) / Losses on revaluation of assets / 14
9.2.3(ii)(I) / Audit Expense / 13
9.2.3(ii)(j) / Emoluments of governing board / 33
9.2.3(ii)(k) / Shareholdings in the entity by members of the governing board / Not Applicable
Statement of Financial Position
9.2.3(iii)(a)(I) / Cash at bank or in hand / 15
9.2.3(iii)(a)(ii) / Inventories by class / 18
9.2.3(iii)(a)(iii) / Receivables, including trade debtors, loans and other debtors / 16
9.2.3(iii)(a)(iv) / Other assets, including prepayments / 18
9.2.3(iii)(a)(v) / Investments by class / 16-17
9.2.3(iii)(a)(vi) / Property, plant and equipment / 18
9.2.3(iii)(a)(vii) / Intangible assets / Not Applicable
9.2.3(iii)(b)(I) / Overdrafts / 19
9.2.3(iii)(b)(ii) / Bank loans, bills payable, promissory notes, debentures and other loans / 19
9.2.3(iii)(b)(iii) / Trade and other creditors / 19
9.2.3(iii)(b)(iv) / Finance lease liabilities / 15
9.2.3(iii)(b)(v) / Provisions, including employee entitlements / 20
9.2.3(iii)(c)(I) / Authorised capital / Not Applicable
9.2.3(iii)(c)(ii) / Issued capital / Not Applicable
9.2.3(iii)(d) / Reserves, and transfers to and from reserves, shown separately / 14
Statement of Cash Flows
9.2.2(I)(c) / Statement of cash flows during the year / 3
Notes to the Financial Statements
9.2.2(I)(d) / Ex-gratia payments / Not Applicable
9.2.2(ii)(d) / Amounts written off / Not Applicable
9.2.3(iv)(a) / Charges against assets / 19
9.2.3(iv)(b) / Contingent liabilities / Not Applicable
9.2.3(iv)(c) / Commitment for expenditure / 15
9.2.3(iv)(d) / Government grants received or receivable / 7-9
9.2.3(iv)(e) / Employee superannuation funds / 12-13
9.2.3(iv)(f) / Assets received without adequate consideration / 13
9.4 / Transactions with responsible persons and their related parties. / 33
Swinburne University of Technology
Report of Operations
1999
23
Vice-Chancellor’s Overview
23
General
During 1999, the University consolidated the strategic directions and developments which have been pursued in recent years.
Council reviewed and considered the strategic positioning of the University at a Retreat held on 5 August 1999, and endorsed a number of key strategies. The most important of these was reaffirmation of the strategic intent to be a research-intensive university of technology, through the development of selected research centres and concentration of dedicated research funding.
Council also approved the development and continuation of other strategies:
· concentration of teaching programs and the pursuit of niche market areas;
· flexible learning;
· the strong drive to internationalisation; and
· development of the opportunities arising from the University’s intersectoral nature.
The research policies are being realised through development of new centres to join the established Institutes for Brain Sciences, Industrial Research and Social Research.
The Swinburne Optics and Laser Laboratory was opened in February by Professor Ahmed Zewail of the California Institute of Technology (“Caltech”), who later in the year won the Nobel Prize for Physics. Professor Zewail is the pioneer of femtochemistry, the major focus of the Swinburne Centre for Ultrafast Laser Spectroscopy, in which laser pulses are used to study chemical reactions as they develop. As a result of Professor Zewail’s visit, a collaborative program has been developed with Caltech. At the more applied end of the spectrum, research is developing using lasers for micromachining and high energy applications in the Industrial Research Institute Swinburne (IRIS).
IRIS was a driving force in the successful bid for a new Co-operative Research Centre (CRC) in microtechnology, to be funded by the Commonwealth Government and industry. Swinburne is also a core participant in four other CRCs:
· CRC for CAST Metals Manufacturing;
· CRC for Intelligent Manufacturing Systems;
· CRC for Clean Power from Lignite; and
· CRC for International Food Manufacture and Packaging Technology.
To be a core participant in five CRCs is a remarkable result given the relative small size of Swinburne’s Higher Education Division.
During the year, the Commonwealth Government also released figures showing that the University’s research income had risen by 38.6% in the previous year. Swinburne researchers were awarded 14 grants in the 1999 ARC round, to the total value of $1,388,648, a considerable improvement on previous years.
It is clear that we are on track to achieving the goal to be a research-intensive university of technology.
Important developments also took place during 1999 in internationalisation.
The previous year had seen the establishment of the Swinburne Tummasiri Laem Chabang School of Engineering, which continued to grow during 1999.
In November 1999 the Malaysian Education Minister granted approval for the establishment of the Swinburne Sarawak Institute of Technology, which is a collaboration between the University, the Sarawak Foundation and a Malaysian developer. The Institute will initially provide short courses and certificate studies in technical, technological and managerial studies, and later in the Year 2000 degree and diploma courses. In the first instance the campus will be set up in temporary premises in Kuching, the capital of Sarawak. In the longer term a permanent campus will be built on a 60 acre site at the environmentally impressive Kasuma Marina resort.
The development of the Laem Chabang school and the establishment of the Sarawak institute are very considerable steps along the path of developing an international network of campuses, which will allow Swinburne students and staff access to international experiences without leaving the Swinburne organisation.
Within Australia, the National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA) received a grant of $500,000 from the Sidney Myer Fund as part of the Sidney Myer Centenary Celebration. The grant will go towards completion of the “Sidney Myer Circus Studio”, to be completed in 2000 at the University’s Prahran campus. In June NICA commenced a 20-week National Training Project with a group of 21 students.
Two significant new administrative units were established in 1999 to further the University’s strategic objectives.
Swinburne Knowledge was established to maximise the commercial potential of the full range of the University’s Intellectual Property, including technological inventions, service innovations, and course materials. Swinburne Knowledge will assist in the drive to make Swinburne an entrepreneurial university, as approved by Council following on from the 1998 World Best Practice Tour.
The Foresight and Planning Unit was set up to co-ordinate planning and performance reporting, develop an integrated knowledge base for strategic planning and management, and integrate foresight into the strategic planning cycle.
All in all, Swinburne is well-placed to make even further gains in achieving its strategic objectives into the future
.
Higher Education Division
The Higher Education Division is pursuing its mission to become the vehicle for the realisation of the research-intensive University of Technology. The Division will be characterised by a restricted number of research activities of national prominence and international recognition. It will also have a limited number of high profile, niche, elite undergraduate and postgraduate coursework programs. Consistent with this mission, activities in 1999 focussed on further enhancing the Division’s achievements and reputation in research, and on a major reconsideration of the profile of undergraduate programs offered by the Division.
In research a new Centre for Micro-Photonics headed by Professor Min Gu was established. This centre will complement the existing Centre for Imaging and Applied Optics.
The newest of Swinburne’s research institutes, the Institute for Social Research, was launched at a function attended by the Federal Member for Werriwa, Mr Mark Latham, MP. The Institute’s Professor Alastair Davidson commenced six months working as one of a select group of fellows at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University in the United States.
A virtual reality theatrette (“the Grotto”), operated by the University’s Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, was opened by the Victorian State Minister for State and Regional Development, the Honourable John Brumby. This theatrette allows participants to ‘move’ within three dimensional images ranging from images of the brain to the universe.
Towards the end of 1999, a major reconsideration of the profile of undergraduate offerings in the Division was driven by three major factors:
1) the Division was heavily overenrolled in 1999 as a result of a high level of student demand for existing programs;
2) the development of a new suite of programs in multi-media spanning the design, technological, marketing and communications aspects of this new discipline;
3) the reduction by the Commonwealth of the total number of Commonwealth places while retaining its overall level of funding.
The strategy taken to address these three factors was to reduce the Division’s intake in future years in order to return student numbers to agreed government levels and to focus activities in areas of existing strength and future opportunity. An important result of this process has been the development of increasingly focussed suites of undergraduate programs which are expected to attract a larger proportion of high quality students.
On the international front the Division is continuing to promote overseas experience, in either study or work placements, as a highly attractive feature of an undergraduate portfolio. Although small in absolute terms, the number of students from the Division going on student exchange to universities in other countries doubled from the previous year. International work placements associated with Industry Based Learning also continued to play a key part in this process of internationalisation.
TAFE Division
During 1999 the TAFE Division focused on implementation of the merger with Eastern TAFE and, in the course of effectively creating the fourth largest TAFE provider in Victoria, achieved strategic objectives aimed at establishing Swinburne TAFE as a strong, competitive, training provider of choice to students and industry.
As the Division entered 1999 with a new, post-merger structure and Management Team, much of the work early in the year concentrated on establishing the operations of the new Departments across six campuses so that a high level of service continued to be provided without disruption to students and industry customers. Significantly, customer feedback indicates that this was achieved and at the same time the Division met all contracted delivery targets and undertook significant innovation and new strategic initiatives.
Supporting the merger process, and in recognition of the critical role of staff, an early achievement was the implementation of a Human Resources Strategy focused on further developing the TAFE Division’s staff capabilities and team-based approach with a range of specific employment, professional development and industrial relevance initiatives.